A glossary of transgender terms

Androgynous: Having the identify and appearance of neither male nor female or in between male and female. From the Latin for male (andro) and female (gyne).

Cisgender: Individuals who have a match between the gender they were assigned at birth, their bodies and their personal identity. Also referred to as gender-normative.

Cross-dressing: Wearing clothing associated with the gender "opposite" to one's anatomical sex. It may be in the privacy of home or in public, part-time or full-time. Erotic pleasure is sometimes the motivation for cross-dressers, whose gender identity remains the same as their anatomical sex and who may be attracted to same-sex or opposite-sex partners, or both.

Drag queens: Individuals who dress and act like the opposite sex, generally for entertainment purposes. Some also identify as transgender. There are also drag kings.

Gender dysphoria: Psychological term to describe feelings of pain and anguish that arise from transgender people's conflict between their anatomical sex and gender identity.

Gender identity disorder: Psychological classification found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual to diagnose transgender adults and children. Trans people consider the assessment of mental illness to be incorrect.

Gender-reassignment surgery: Also known as sex reassignment surgery, a series of operations for transgender or transsexual people. Male to female (MTF) involves removal of the penis and surgical construction of a vagina and sometimes breast implants and facial reconstruction. Female to male (FTM) involves removal of reproductive organs and breasts, reconstruction of the chest and occasionally creation of a penis.

Intersex: Extremely rare condition of individuals, also called hermaphrodites, born with genitals that show characteristics of both sexes or are opposite to their genetic sex. Many are surgically "corrected" in infancy, and some grow up to feel like they had an essential part of themselves taken away without their consent.

Queer: Slang term for the LGBTQ community that reclaims a pejorative term as a label of pride and celebration.

Sex vs. gender: Terms often used interchangeably, which activists believe is incorrect. Sex refers to the label male or female assigned at birth based upon reproductive biology. Activists contend a cursory examination of the genitalia by a doctor at birth is not an accurate way to determine biological sex. They believe gender refers to socially defined behavioral, social, psychological and appearance traits associated with being a man or woman such as style of dress and professional.

Transgender: Trans or TG for short. An umbrella term for people whose gender identity or gender expression does not conform to the cultural "norm" for the gender into which they were born, or the sex which they were assigned at birth. Transgender is the term of choice currently in the LGBTQ community. Also known as "gender-variant" or "gender non-conforming." MTF refers to male-to-female or trans women. FTM refers to female-to-male or trans men. Trans people feel a need to alter their bodies through hormones and surgery in order to feel congruent in their identity. There is a spectrum of responses, ranging from people who chose to live full-time in the opposite gender without hormone replacement therapy or surgery all the way to those who undergo gender-reassignment surgery.

Transition: Process in which trans people alter their bodies through dress, hormones and surgery so that they feel their gender expression and identity are congruent.

More Information

Transphobia: Irrational fear and hatred of transgender and transsexual people. Similar to homophobia against homosexuals.

Transsexual: Individual born into one gender who identifies physically and psychologically as the opposite gender. It is a more precise, technical term to describe transgender people.

Source: Moonhawk River Stone, a Schenectady therapist who specializes in treating transgender people, and other sources.